You know, I figured blogging about journalism news would be pretty chill, as there wouldn’t be much happening most days. But actually, I’ve missed a lot of stories in the past few months.

The reason, I think, is that blogging is always something I can do tomorrow. Yesterday I played tennis instead of writing, for instance. After the third or fourth day after I’ve found a story I’m usually done with it, or something else has come up that I have to find links for to write about.

This, on the other hand, is a bizarre trainwreck of a column that I read on Sunday in the Post. I put off writing about it, and I’m glad I did.

Mostly because why.i.hate.dc and the DCist did most of my work for me.

The Post, via DCist,

“…ran it to provoke, but not to offend. I thought the parallel she drew
between fainting Obama followers and Beatlemania was an interesting frame
with which to analyze the Obama phenomenon. She went further, of course, to
draw broader conclusions about the state of her gender highlighting women’s
interest in Gray’s Anatomy and Eat, Pray, Love. “

Yeah, that part is the Post’s own Outlook editor, John Pomfret’s, justification of the column. And in case you haven’t read it, here are some quotes I’ve chosen seemingly at random:

“I can’t help it, but reading about such episodes of screaming, gushing and swooning makes me wonder whether women — I should say, ‘we women,’ of course — aren’t the weaker sex after all. ”

or

“Take Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign. By all measures, she has run one of the worst — and, yes, stupidest — presidential races in recent history, marred by every stereotypical flaw of the female sex.”

later

“What is it about us women? Why do we always fall for the hysterical, the superficial and the gooily sentimental?”

Now, if you’re a female columnist (or male for that matter), and you decide you want to write the thoughts you’ve been feeling about how women aren’t as smart as men, could you please not frame it so…insiduously?

I mean, Hillary Clinton’s taken some cheap shots during her run for President, twice as many as either of the guys, and she’s taken it all with some humor. Saying that the problems with her campaign are because it’s being run in a stereotypically feminine is neither provable nor enlightening. In fact, I think it degrades the conversation.

But enough of this Clinton love. The “Second Super Tuesday” caucuses are being counted right now, so it may be curtains for Clinton.

Still, look out for my columns coming up in the Post, first on how Obama’s black campaign keeps making stereotypically black mistakes, second on McCain’s curmudgeonly old man campaign, and how I need to stop letting my dog poop in its yard or I may get the homeowner’s association called on me.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 8:37 pm and is filed under News, general, newspaper, print. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.